Bondholders in Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd, in administration since April, on Monday submitted an updated proposal to take over the struggling company that rivals the approach from Bain Capital selected by administrator Deloitte, Reuters reported. The new proposal from bondholders Broad Peak Investment Advisers and Tor Investment Management is “substantially the same” as a recapitalisation pitch for Australia’s second-biggest airline they lodged last month, a spokesman said in a statement.

The Group of 20 leading economies this weekend may have to consider expanding help for the world’s poorest countries, three months after agreeing to provide temporary debt relief, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage nations, Bloomberg News reported. Central bankers and finance ministers from the G-20 will hold a virtual meeting on Saturday to discuss and coordinate phased efforts to spur a global economic recovery. Looking beyond just debt relief efforts would be part of that.

Bank of Japan policymakers debated the risk of the country sliding back into deflation but stopped short of advocating stronger steps to prevent firms from going insolvent due to the coronavirus pandemic, minutes of their June meeting showed, Reuters reported. With the impact of COVID-19 likely to last for a prolonged period, more companies could face the risk of insolvency even if they received immediate liquidity support, some on the BOJ’s nine-member board were quoted as saying.

China’s cash-strapped small lenders are expanding their pile of the riskiest kind of bank debt to shore up their capital levels, bracing against an economic slowdown and rising loan defaults, Bloomberg News reported. A total of 19 banks have sold 339.6 billion yuan ($48.5 billion) perpetual bonds, high-yielding subordinated bonds with no maturity dates, as of July 10 this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Smaller lenders including Chongqing Three Gorges Bank Co., Bank of Rizhao Co., and Huarong Xiangjiang Bank Corp. accounted for more than 70% of the issuance.

The head of India’s largest bank said the country’s escalating coronavirus outbreak risks jeopardising a years-long clean up of the financial system if authorities and lenders aren’t ready to step in and support struggling sectors like aviation or hotels, the Financial Times reported. Rajnish Kumar, chairman of the State Bank of India — India’s largest lender with over $500bn in assets — told the FT that pressures on the loan books of public-sector banks may require further capitalisation by the government, as well as rescheduling of debt and writedowns by banks themselves.

China has avoided a recession, but debt problems are piling up. Output rose 3.2% year-on-year in the three months to June, following last quarter’s record contraction. Investment still looks tepid, employers are shedding jobs, and retail is anaemic, Reuters reported. That means more bad loans. Unfortunately, the country is running low on distressed debt investors. The pandemic has forced Beijing to prop up sectors, including exports and tourism, where demand has been hit hard and unemployment rising.

The NCLAT has upheld the NCLT order to initiate insolvency proceedings against HDIL, and rejected the plea of its promoter Rakesh Wadhwan, The Economic Times reported. A three-member bench of the appellate tribunal observed that the NCLT had given ample opportunity to Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) to settle the matter amicably with its lenders, but it has failed to make the payment or arrive at a settlement. Earlier on August 20, 2019, the Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had directed to initiate insolvency proceedings a

Chinese investors who claim to trace their lineage to a renowned fourth-century calligrapher are fighting to retain control of a 256-year-old French crystal glassmaker, following a series of defaults and a private credit deal gone wrong, the Financial Times reported. The troubles for Beijing-based Fortune Fountain Capital and its struggle to hold on to Baccarat Crystal highlight the problems Chinese investors have run into after taking on excessive leverage to buy European brands — sometimes through private credit deals at lending rates far higher than those of bank

ZenRock Commodities Trading Pte Ltd is unlikely to continue its core oil trading businesses in the long term, its court-appointed supervisor KPMG Services said in a report that also raised concerns over transactions by the Singapore-based trader, Reuters reported. ZenRock was placed under interim judicial management in May after one of its creditors HSBC Holdings PLC alleged that it engaged in a series of “highly dishonest transactions”.

India’s shadow banks are benefiting from a drop in borrowing costs after government stimulus steps, but the troubled sector faces more challenges ahead as the economy reels from the pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The lenders’ borrowing costs declined in June for a second straight month, according to a gauge that’s among four indicators compiled by Bloomberg to check on the health of the industry.